Prolene mesh and your prolapse surgery – erosions, sex, and the latest data. The transvaginal mesh is made of a prolene substance which is creating problems in woman with the various transvaginal mesh patch implants. The following information on the prolene mesh substance is of interest and being passed along for our readers. In doing so we hope to offer informations,support and help to women who have been suffering form these vaginal mesh products. Many of our callers and followers do not really understand what these mesh products are. They merely followed the advise of their physicians to relieve discomfort and improve theor quality of life. Hope has turned to pain and women worldwide have stories to tell about their transvaginal Mesh.

Prolene mesh is the product name for a permanent plastic mesh with many implantation applications in reconstructive surgery. Prolene mesh is used to fix large and small abdominal hernias, inguinal hernias, hernias of the diaphragm; it’s used to resuspend kidneys (nephropexy) rectums (rectopexy), uteri (aka uterus’ plural) (sacrohysteropexy), prolapsed vaginas after hysterectomy (sacrocolpopexy), chin augmentations (mentoplasty), chest wall repair in certain thoracic surgeries, (abdominal hernias (inguinal, umbilcal, ventral) and both male and female urethral sling operations for stress urinary incontinence, to name a few.

Over the last 8-10 years, the use of prolene mesh for vaginal prolapse surgery has expanded to include cystocele and rectoceele repair, In an effort to standardize application and, arguably, make it easier for gynecology, urogynecology and urology surgeons to use the mesh, and, definitely, to market the new pelvic organ prolapse mesh kits effectively, Prolene mesh companies have tweaked mesh pore size (degree of laciness), thickness, and density; they’ve mixed it with other graft materials, impregnated it with various materials, each in an effort to reduce horrific complications and claim clinical superiority. The industry cannot advertise or market superiority without data, so they sponsor scientific clinical trials hoping for favorable data that will legally permit them to claim product superiority in marketing activities, via studies paid for in part or in full by the companies manfacturing the mesh, often but not always recruiting surgeons who work as paid advisors and consultants, much the same way pharmaceutical companies use paid advisors to participate in clinical drug trials. I know, I’ve been, at various points in my career, one of those advisor/consultants. It is a very fine ethical tightrope clinicians walk when participating at that level. The perks are large. The rewards many. It’s an elite group of clinical industry insiders that trumpet the merits of these meshes. Those surgeons publishing outside of the advisory board arena compete for journal space along side industry funded trials.

A few times a year, I and a few colleagues comb the literature for the Journal of Sexual Medicine, fashioning reviews of research with a sexual function implication. This month, I found three that “turn me on” – 2 of which focus on Prolene mesh for vaginal implantation in pelvic organ prolapse surgery for cystoceles (dropped bladders) and rectoceles (back wall vaginal hernias).

Here are the two trials on 2 different Prolene mesh kits: AMS Perigee and Gynecare Prolift.

The first study, using Prolift, found that young sexually active women were more likely to suffer vaginal erosion of mesh, literally mesh showing where the vaginal skin over it has eroded away. A bit of a problem, if your young, like sex, have prolapse, and use Prolene mesh, at least with this particular kit, to have it fixed. Prolene mesh in the vagina creates a mechanical risk of sexual dysfunction; your sex life could, quite literally, hit the skids. Forget carpet burns, we’re talking penis-meets-sand paper. Woops.

The second study, using a different brand of Prolene mesh vaginal prolapse kit for dropped bladder (cystocele) repair called Perigee, claims a close-to-zero mesh erosion rate, each erosion “minimal and easily remedied” with a bit of tinkering in the office. The investigators report some interesting ongoing changes in the sonographic appearance of the mesh once implanted in the vagina. In this study, Prolene mesh demonstrated folding in a few, and continued to shrink or shorten and thicken more and more at each of three sonograms done in the first year after implantation. Makes you wonder how it’s behaving after, say, 5 or 10 years.

I’ve said before and I’ll say again here, Prolene mesh ribbons for uterine suspension, vaginal cuff suspension after hysterectomy and female urethral sling operations for urinary incontinence have been around a long time and really do seem, in my experience and in my opinion, to work very well with low rates of minimally bothersome, easy to fix complications. BUT I’ve seen nightmares with Prolene mesh kits used for cystocele and rectocele repair – full recurrence of the prolapse, sometimes worse that before surgery, along with horrific, painful, bleeding mesh vaginal or bladder erosions, kinking of ureters (the tubes that drain urine from your kidney to your bladder) glued to the mesh requiring ureteral re-implantation into a diffierent part of the bladder (this is big surgery, not a quickie), in addition to mesh bundles eroding into the vagina creating bleeding vaginal wounds that make sex impossible. Explanting (removing it in full) Prolene mesh from the anterior and posterior walls of the vagina is no easy task.